The Official Venmo Blog

July 23, 2009 · by Venmo

As more and more people are preferring to use their credit cards over cash for a number of reasons (like the high cost of cash), it becomes key to accept card payments as an independent seller. Maximize the effectiveness of your next garage sale by using Venmo to promote goods, manage inventory, and process sales.

Promote your sale using Venmo

Using Venmo’s social media tools, you can easily promote your garage sale with just a few clicks. Make different ads for different days, track which one is more popular based on traffic to your page, and decide what day to have your sale on! You no longer have to rely on guesswork and a few signs on the road to get traffic to your front porch. Make the most of your time and use Venmo instead to advertise what you’re doing.

Accept credit card payments

If you’re driving around on a weekend morning, aren’t you more likely to stop by at a sale if you can buy goods whether or not you have cash? Make it easier for your customers to pay you by accepting easy credit card payments. When a purchase is made, just send the customer an invoice using Venmo— send Venmo a text with the price of the good sold and the customer’s phone number, email address, or Venmo username. If the customer doesn’t have a Venmo account, he’ll get instructions on how to key in his credit card information and complete the payment. All they have to do is confirm the transaction and the payment will be sent! For example, if you sell a chair for $10, send Venmo a text to (646.863.9557) with “$10 from 408-902-1050 for chair”.

Track your sales

In the rush of a big sale, you’re often likely to misplace items or forget exactly how much you sold your products for. Eliminate this hassle by using Venmo to track your items. When you’re sending a customer an invoice, just include “for itemname” to track the item; the transaction and item name will show up on your dashboard. Soon, we’ll offer the ability to import Venmo transactions into online budgeting services like Mint and Wesabe.